Conventionally, there have been known ignition apparatuses for internal combustion engines which cause a discharge to occur between electrodes of an ignition plug, thereby igniting an air-fuel mixture. Moreover, in recent years, for lean-burn internal combustion engines designed to improve fuel economy, there have been developed techniques of creating a strong gas flow in a combustion chamber and thereby improving the combustibility. In such internal combustion engines, the discharge is extended by the gas flow, thereby improving the performance of igniting the air-fuel mixture. However, when the gas flow is strong, blow-off of the discharge may occur, immediately after which a re-discharge occurs. Further, after the re-discharge, a phenomenon is repeated in which the discharge is again blown off by the gas flow. Therefore, there is a problem that the electrodes of the ignition plug are worn down.
Accordingly, an ignition apparatus disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 inhibits a re-discharge after occurrence of blow-off, thereby preventing occurrence of the discharge repetition phenomenon and thus suppressing wear of the ignition plug electrodes.